Family Enterprise and Business Education with Hakim Meshreki

Family businesses are distinct from other organizations in both structure and behavior. They are the backbone of many economies worldwide, but are rarely centered in management education.In this episode of The Global Exchange, we hear from Hakim Meshreki, Associate Professor of Marketing at the American University of Cairo and Commercial Director of Menatec, a family-owned adhesives company his father and uncle started in a garage in 1972. Drawing on this rare dual role, Hakim explores the characteristics of family businesses: the blending of family identity and business values, the "patient capital" mindset that prioritizes generational wealth over quarterly returns, and the succession planning challenges being reshaped by AI and shortened business model lifecycles.He outlines the ways in which traditional MBA programs fall short of meeting the needs of family business leaders and previews a promising response to that gap: a MENA Family Enterprise Hub being developed in partnership with GBSN.View a transcript of the episode.